Contents

Background

Tables, Ladders & Chairs featured professional wrestling matches involving different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that developed on WWE's television programs. Wrestlers portrayed villains or heroes as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

The main rivalry heading into TLC featured the World Heavyweight Champion, John Cena and the WWE Champion, Randy Orton, over who is the proverbial "face of the WWE". Ever since SummerSlam in August, Orton had been engaged in a feud with Daniel Bryan over the WWE Championship, and owing to his alliance with The Authority (Triple H and Stephanie McMahon), finally settled his rivalry with Bryan at the Hell in a Cell event, defeating him in a Hell in a Cell Match to win the WWE title for the eighth time. However, over time, The Authority started showing doubt over Orton's ability to win matches on his own accord. To prove he still was their chosen "face of the WWE", Orton was made to defend his championship against the anti-Authority Big Show at Survivor Series in November, who Orton defeated to retain his title, but only after Big Show was distracted by Triple H and McMahon. Concurrently, Cena defeated Alberto Del Rio at Survivor Series to retain his World Heavyweight Championship in a rematch from the Hell in a Cell event, where Cena returned from an elbow injury seemingly before schedule, yet still defeated Del Rio to win the title for the third time. After Orton's victory at Survivor Series, Cena came down to the ring with his title, and celebrated with the crowd as The Authority looked on, much to Orton's chagrin. The next night, on the November 25 episode of Raw, after another confrontation between the two world champions, Triple H announced that Orton will face Cena in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match with both the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship on the line, at the TLC pay-per-view, with the winner becoming the "Champion of Champions". At the event, it was announced that the new champion would be called the "WWE World Heavyweight Champion".

Since late October, both CM Punk and Daniel Bryan had been assaulted by the eerie Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan), which led to a Tag Team Match at Survivor Series in November with Punk and Bryan going up against - and defeating - Harper and Rowan. The next night, on the November 25 episode of Raw, Bryan was (kayfabe) "abducted" by the Wyatt Family, while Punk was ambushed by The Shield, another notorious three-man faction consisting of Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns. On the December 2 episode of Raw, Punk tried tracing back the reason for the attack on him to Triple H, believing he called for Punk to be taken out for the latter's rebellious comments against The Authority. After these allegations were rebuked by Triple H's wife, Stephanie McMahon, WWE's (kayfabe) "Director of Operations", Kane, also came out to support The Authority, and after being insulted by Punk, announced a three-on-one Handicap Match at the TLC event, pitting Punk against all three members of The Shield. Also, on the same night, after defeating Erick Rowan, Bryan too was put in a three-on-one handicap match by Kane - much like Punk - to face all three members of the Wyatt Family at the TLC pay-per-view.

Another championship match at the TLC pay-per-view saw AJ Lee defending the WWE Divas Championship against Natalya. At Survivor Series, Natalya, along with Nikki Bella, were the "Survivors" after making AJ submit in a seven-on-seven Survivor Series elimination match between the "True Divas" and the Total Divas. On the December 2 episode of Raw, Natalya pinned AJ, to secure a victory for her team in a six-Diva tag team match. After this string of non-title wins, Natalya was officially announced to challenge AJ for the Divas Championship at the TLC event.